About The
eLearning Guild

The eLearning Guild is the oldest and most trusted source of information, networking, and community for eLearning professionals. As a member-driven organization, the Guild produces a countless number of resources all devoted to the idea that the people who know the most about making eLearning successful are the people who produce eLearning every day in corporate, government, and academic settings. Our goal is to create a place where eLearning professionals can share their knowledge, expertise, and ideas to build a better industry—and better learning experiences—for everyone.

Sessions in Ecosystem - Technology Track

Prior to the integration of its learning information sites into
the common learning portal (CLP), the National Park Service (NPS) had over 25
different sites for its various learning programs. This made finding learning
information complex for its workforce of over 20,000 employees. Navigation
required knowledge of the URLs at various sites and each site had different
navigation tools and varied widely in appearance. In addition, social learning
opportunities in the form of communities were scattered among various
commercial sites.

You’re excited about the promise of the xAPI-enabled world, but
you’ve still got a learning management system (LMS) and a host of SCORM-based
courses that you need. But what if you could get the most out of both a LMS and
a learning record store (LRS) at the same time?

Do you feel stuck in a rut because of outdated learning methods
and the limitations imposed on you by your learning management system? You’re
not alone. Today’s learning methods and technologies are not adapting quickly
enough to keep up with the evolving needs of organizations and the entry of
millennials into the mainstream workforce. Though there are many stand-alone
technologies available, it can be challenging to know how to organize the
various tools under one over-arching learning strategy.

The current learning environment is massively disruptive, with new
learning technologies appearing daily. Focus has shifted from content to
experience, and learning strategies now call for a new emphasis on informal
learning, collaboration, and user-generated and curated content. Throw into the
mix a wide variety of devices and approaches like gamification, and organizational
learning has become a very confusing and complicated state.

Training events often fall short of delivering results in the
workplace. Training can be too far removed from application on the job, and in
many cases there is a reliance on outmoded models that fail to take into account
the dynamic environment of the modern workplace. The demand for information and
action is accelerating. This paradigm requires a different approach to
supporting performance and development, including real-time access to people,
process, tools, and content, linked to the unique needs of the individual.

The Experience API and emerging technologies afford organizations
the opportunity to create adaptive learning ecosystems of functionality to
support learners. Designing learning ecosystems and adaptive systems requires a
shift in design approaches. While the Experience API can provide common
tracking similar to SCORM for a learning management system, it really extends
the ability to collect data with value between systems. This intersystem data
value, combined with new design approaches, unlocks a number of use cases.

Choosing an LMS can be wrought with peril. There are many
decisions that go into selecting the system that provides the best fit for your
company, and there seem to be no end of things waiting to trip you up on your
path to your new system. But if you know what to look for, you can avoid the
hazards!

Your learning ecosystem already exists in the resources scattered
across your intranet and beyond, but your learners don’t know how to find them.
When they are able to access this wealth of information, they are often
overwhelmed, leaving the resources underutilized and the employees frustrated
and still unable to meet their performance improvement needs. Many
organizations have platforms such as an LMS and the content that they want to
highlight, but they lack middleware and associated processes to connect the
dots.

With the advent of the xAPI, a new learning technology product has
come into being: the learning record store (LRS). It is a requirement for using
the xAPI to track learner behavior, serving as a repository for data generated
by the xAPI statements. Stakeholders need to know the basics of how LRSs work
and the range of features available in them in order to make intelligent
acquisition, ecosystem design, and implementation decisions. In order to use
the xAPI, you must have an LRS.